


Coral Lightning

by Jesi_Ki_Kage



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Power Rangers, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Acceptance, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Fluff, Secret Identity, this is just a soft identity reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 21:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19117780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jesi_Ki_Kage/pseuds/Jesi_Ki_Kage
Summary: Still new couple Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, and Maria Hill, Commander of Tactics and Operations at SHIELD, take a much needed vacation date. Just to get away together for a few days. It does not go near as planned.But then, how do you plan for the Power Rangers?It's time a bit of Maria's past came to light.





	Coral Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> This is the idea that started auwana down her spiral. Please note this is set shortly after Natasha joined SHIELD, so I decided there was enough time before canon that Maria hadn't been prompted to Assistant Director yet.
> 
> Disclaimer:  the below requires the abandoning of every possible ‘canon’ verse for Power Rangers. So, just pretend this is another alternate dimension thing that Power Rangers exist in. I may have created entirely new meta writing this. I'm not sure, as I'm not actually that well versed in the PR fandom. I don't own them, but the ideas may be mine.

* * *

It was meant to be a nice little get away.

Maria and Natasha had been dating for almost a year. In that time Natasha had found she liked getting to see Maria separate from her Hard-Ass-Hill persona; something that was always in the background while they were still near anything SHIELD related. She supposed Maria felt much the same about getting to see Natasha with as many walls down as there could be when they were alone. Not that either of them didn’t like their work sides, just that a person is more than who they are at work, and both of them knew how to appreciate the distinction.

Unfortunately, they rarely had a chance to take leave at the same time.  So when they can one of them would pick a random city on the map and they’d go for the weekend or the week or however long SHIELD was able to function without them. It isn’t the first time one of their little getaways got interrupted.

It is the first time one of their getaways got interrupted by the Power Rangers though.

* * *

The sounds of explosions and screams and havoc being wrot was familiar. They both reacted immediately, taking cover and taking stock of the situation. When they saw a figure in a brightly colored suit fly into the wall of a building down the street Maria let out a curse very different from the ones Natasha was familiar with.

Still, in the moment of calm before joining a fight was not the time to ask what was bothering your partner. Or, at least it wasn’t the time to ask Maria. Natasha wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate for someone else either though.

The next moment they’re moving in sync towards the fighting, guns ready.

Although Maria’s is pointed at the ground while Natasha’s is at eye level. When they reach the turn and see what four other brightly colored figures - the current iteration of Power Rangers - are fighting Maria goes one step further, sighing and holstering her gun all together.

“Bullets won’t do any good here.” She says to Natasha’s dropped jaw. Already Maria is crouched next to the prone figure of the Green Ranger.

Instinct has Natasha ducking. A chunk of broken cement slams into the wall just a few meters from where Maria is crouched next to the Ranger. The impact seemed to be more effective than Maria’s verbal attempts as the Ranger bolts upright, looking around before their gaze settles on Maria. At least Natasha assumes as much based on the angling of the helmet visor.

“Ma-” Maria cuts the Ranger off before the first syllable can be finished.

“Don’t. The fight's still going.”

Visor turns to look past Natasha and the helmet nods. Shakily the Green Ranger stands, Maria’s hands hovering nearby but careful not to touch. The Ranger glances back at Maria, then Natasha, then nods. A heartbeat later they’re already several steps away, running at a speed that surprises Natasha.

She really shouldn’t be surprised though. After all, the Rangers had to be enhanced in some way to handle the intense fights they were always getting into.

Watching the Green Ranger rejoin the fight Natasha wonders what they should do next. There are no more civilians in sight. And the fight appears to be contained to the edge of the park where it must have originated. A glance at Maria shows a tension Natasha knows is likely mirrored in her own frame.

Their instinct is to help, but history has shown only Rangers can fully defeat Ranger opponents. The best anyone else can do is slow the monsters down.

Several of the monsters breaking away from where the Rangers were trying to contain them made up the decision for her. Before Maria’s protest had finished leaving her lips Natasha was already moving forward, moving towards the fight. It was a decision that while ordinary in its action, Natasha would look back on it years later as a turning point in her relationship with Maria.

* * *

They joined the fight. In between throwing kicks and blocking punches the Rangers yelled at them to leave, to seek shelter. The voice modifier that must be built into the suits may have kept Natasha from guessing ages and genders, but it did nothing to hide the emotions in the Rangers’ voices.

Shock and wonder. Awe and fear. Anger and pride.

Something in their reactions didn’t add up. Something seemed off. Were they that surprised to see non-Rangers fighting with them?

The question didn’t quite match the evidence, but it was the best Natasha had at the moment.

Shortly after the initial protests were ignored the option to leave was destroyed along with building next to them on the street. Rubble rained down on them as what could only be the orchestrator of the fight showed up. And continued to go up too.

At first Natasha couldn’t believe her eyes as the monster grew and grew, raining more and more rubble from the destroyed building down on the fighters. A cry of “look out” had Natasha ducking and spinning on instinct.

She dodged the fist from the normal rock monster only to be tackled to the side as another chunk of rubble landed where she’d been.

Pushing through the addition of pain Natasha struggled to her feet, reaching down to help the Yellow Ranger up without a second thought. The Ranger took it, but Natasha could tell from the sluggish movements the Ranger had taken the brunt of the impact. Pulling her to her feet Natasha could see chunks of debris shifted off the Ranger’s armor as she stood.

“Can you still fight?” Natasha asked, staring at the helmet visor in front of her. “And thank you.”

Yellow goes to nod only to lose her balance, previously released hand flailing to gab onto Natasha for support. Clearly, not alright then. Before Natasha can comment on it she senses a swing going for her head. Dodging and keeping Yellow on her feet are going to be an issue but she’s struggled through worse.

The continually falling debris definitely adds another risk factor though.

In a burst of movement Natasha lightly knocks Yellow’s hand off her before launching into a roundhouse kick to the monster’s center of gravity. The monster staggers back but it isn’t enough. Natasha knows this even as she’s already turning and pulling the off balance Yellow out of the way of more falling building chunks.

For several minutes the pattern continues.

Dodge, retaliate, move Yellow and herself out of the way of whatever might hit them in the heads.

Natasha is aware of Maria and the other Rangers working their way to her and Yellow. Unfortunately, the giant monster smashing buildings and the fact that the two of them are closest to the foot falls means it’s slow and dangerous work.

Yellow tried to help. And she did, to an extent. She was able to cover Natasha’s back, block some blows and give a few of her own. Even with what Natasha assumed was a concussion the Ranger’s blows did more damage to the monster than Natasha’s.

It grated on her pride even though logically Natasha knew it took a Ranger to defeat a Ranger monster.

Maria was only a few car sized hunks of rubble away when Natasha knew it wouldn’t be enough. The ground shook as the massive monster knocked into another building, his feet causing the fall radius to be larger than it needed. In the seconds Natasha was watching the latest chunk of building begin flying for her head a punch from the monster in front of her was also flying towards her head.

This time Yellow didn’t call a warning, she simply stepped in front of the blow.

Everything switched into slow motion.

Natasha reacted on instinct to catch the woman as she crumpled, well aware that she was now quite literally caught between a rock and a hard place - or at least the piece of one as it continued to fly towards her head. Suddenly Maria was there, her kick successfully sending the monster staggering away although it did little else.

Natasha went to say something, anything really, when she felt the armor she was holding onto begin to fade.

“Wha-?”

In that moment three things happened.

She was once again being tackled to the ground, this time by Maria.

The chunk of building that had distracted her earlier had finally reached where they’d been standing.

A blinding flash of black light filled her vision right before her head slammed into the ground and she saw nothing at all.

* * *

When Natasha woke next she immediately knew something was off. The room she was in was quiet. Her body told her she was tucked into a bed, but the feel of the sheets and mattress were unfamiliar. Her body also told her she’d recently been in a fight.

Memory returned and in an instant Natasha was sitting up right.

“Maria!” Searching frantically Natasha took stock of her surroundings.

She was alone. The room was small, had the impersonal feel of a guest room, although the medical supplies spread out on the small corner table belayed a different purpose. Automatically Natasha was rising, moving, intent on the door.

Maria had been with her. Maria had been there when Natasha blacked out. When the giant chunk of building had passed over their heads after Maria had tackled the three of them to the ground. That’s right, where was the Yellow Ranger too? The fight was clearly over if someone had managed to get her out from among the rubble, but where was everyone else?

Natasha was only a step away from the door when it began to open.

Instantly she was shifting weight into a defensive stance despite the twinges of protest from her body.

Thankfully it’s Maria standing in the doorframe, relief flooding her expression at seeing Natasha up and about. But also concern clear in her gaze as she looks over Natasha’s posture, eyes pausing on places Natasha can feel bandages even if she hasn’t looked for herself.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. We’re safe. We’re in the Coral Lightning safe house.”

Maria’s hands hovered in front of her, reaching for Natasha but careful not to touch her. Natasha appreciated the trust there, that Maria knew to wait for Natasha to relax before initiating contact. It showed this was still Maria, her girlfriend, not someone else controlling her.

Natasha wasn't ruling anything out just yet.

Not when Maria was standing in front of her in the armor of a Power Ranger.

Maria seemed to pick up on her train of thought. Hands lowered to her side, twitching behind her back before returning to her side. Natasha would have smiled at Maria fighting her habit to go to parade rest if her questions weren't sitting on the tip of her tongue.

When Natasha refused to speak first Maria sighed, hand coming up to rake through her loose hair.

"The armor will fade in a few hours. Crystal’s - she’s the yellow ranger you were fighting with - awake, but until her concussion has faded the Grid won’t transfer the active powers back to her.”

Natasha blinked at her, head tilting to the side slightly. Deciding to trust the words at face value - that Maria was in full control and knew exactly what was happening - she relaxed from her stance, moving instead to sit on the bed. Immediately Maria's shoulders slouched as she moved further into the room, door closing softly behind her.

For a moment neither spoke, Natasha considering her words, Maria likely waiting for Natasha's verdict.

"You said Coral Lighting. But the current team is the Titanic Fury Power Rangers." Maria nodded, falling into parade rest as she spoke.

"They are. My-" she took a deep breath, "my team is the Coral Lightning. We are a…rather unique team. Because we don't have a permanent town to protect like the others we decided to just, rent safe houses in the city wherever a team is active. Just in case of fights like today. Any Ranger can use them and most contribute to the rent and keeping the place maintained. It also gives anyone visiting a place to crash."

Natasha nodded, processing the information - both the given and the implied.

"Unique how? Why don't you have a town to protect like the others? Why have I never heard of your team before?"

Maria smirked, and Natasha can guess that she had already predicted those questions being asked. Anticipated the lack of leading assumptions in the questions. She moved to sit at the small table as she continued.

“My team is definitely unique. We're the only team to never fight a battle with every member of our team on the field. We're the only team able to pick up our powers at the drop of a hat. The only team that can activate our powers on accident too. The only team that needs to have a constant awareness of what we touch at all times. We are lighting, able to strike in a flash, pick up a fight at a moment's notice. We are coral, brittle and strong and oh so fragile. We were never meant to exist. But we do."

"We’re not very well known to the public, but every Ranger knows who we are. They have to. Just as we have to know without fail who other Rangers are. The consequences of a mishap ordinarily aren’t an issue. But in cases like today, they can be very... problematic.”

Natasha's face is carefully blank even as she process the implications of what Maria just said. Natasha has read every official, unofficial, and classified file on the Power Rangers. She has never heard of Ranger's being able to do what Maria just described. Granted, she'd also never heard of Maria's team name before. Although the two words have been mentioned in files separately, never jointly, never as a proper name.

She new Rangers could be tapped to join a new team. History showed that multiple teams of Rangers could be activate at the same time. But usually it was only because of the current team retiring. None of the files were certain on what caused a team to form or end, nor did they know what lead to a previous Ranger becoming active again. Active. That was one thing all the files agreed on. Rangers were either Active or Inactive, and Inactive Rangers could only come back if certain circumstances were met.

Except, apparently, for Maria's team.

When Natasha still hadn't spoken after several moments Maria proceeded to elaborate.

“The Originals’ joke we’re a leech team. We sort of, steal, other team’s active connections. In reality it’s more like we’re the reserve players. When our team formed it was during a time of heavy fighting. We were at war, although anyone outside the Ranger Corps didn’t know it. Teams were barely lasting a year before burning out and Rangers were often getting serious injuries putting them out of the fighting for days at a time.

“The result was, well, us. We were the Grid’s solution to severely injured Rangers who needed more time to heal than the enemy was allowing. At first everyone was freaking out thinking the Grid was suddenly maintaining two teams, but it wasn’t. It had instead found a way to just- temporarily transfer the power.

“Unfortunately, we found out the hard way the transfer is touch activated. We’d take healthy rangers out of the fight if we weren’t careful about skin contact. That’s why it’s so important for every new team to recognize us on sight and vice versa. Because of fights like today where, when Crystal fell unconscious and I touched her, the power instantly transferred to me. If the team hadn’t already known that was a possibility it would have been a lot harder for us to work together to finish the battle.”

Natasha nodded again. Maria fidgeted. Finally Natasha sighed and held out her arms. Immediately, Maria moved into the offered hug, her relief palpable in the way her muscles relaxed against Natasha.

"I'm still processing. I'm not sure how I feel. You kept this from me, but I can understand why you did."

"But we're okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay."

_**~fin~** _

* * *

 


End file.
